diff --git a/Dockerfile.windows b/Dockerfile.windows
index 43421ab58a..e8730541ee 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.windows
+++ b/Dockerfile.windows
@@ -104,20 +104,10 @@ RUN mv CalicoWindows/cni/calico.exe rancher/
 RUN mv CalicoWindows/cni/calico-ipam.exe rancher/
 RUN mv CalicoWindows/confd confd/
 
-FROM mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:1809 AS windows-runtime
+FROM scratch AS windows-runtime
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.url="https://hub.docker.com/r/rancher/rke2-runtime"
 LABEL org.opencontainers.image.source="https://github.com/rancher/rke2"
-
-USER ContainerAdministrator
-SHELL ["powershell", "-Command", "$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'; $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue';"]
-
-# Create necessary directories
-RUN New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path C:\bin, C:\bin\confd, C:\charts
-
-# Copy files using Windows paths
-COPY --from=containerd /usr/local/bin/*.exe C:/bin/
-COPY --from=windows-runtime-collect ./rancher/* C:/bin/
-COPY --from=windows-runtime-collect ./confd/ C:/bin/confd/
-COPY --from=windows-runtime-collect ./charts C:/charts/
-
-USER ContainerUser
+COPY --from=containerd /usr/local/bin/*.exe /bin/
+COPY --from=windows-runtime-collect ./rancher/* /bin/
+COPY --from=windows-runtime-collect ./confd/ /bin/confd
+COPY --from=windows-runtime-collect ./charts /charts/